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Meet Indie-Pop Husband-Wife Duo Tennis: They Tell Us About Their Influences and How They Met

Jet-setting duo Tennis, composed of husband-and-wife indie-pop pair Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley, first boomed in winter 2011 when their debut album, Cape Dory, was released. Though it came at a time when several indie acts—Best Coast, Cults, Dum Dum Girls, to name a few—were incorporating retro-pop sounds, Tennis stood apart with a refreshing sense of comfort and warmth, thanks to their knack for travel and adventure. Cape Dory, inspired by a sailing trip, was (and is) a perfect soundtrack to picturesque summer vacations and a cozy respite from harsh winter weather. Last year's Young and Old saw the couple deftly exploring more existential matter, and Small Sound (get it here on iTunes) is an experimental "progress report" EP, as Alaina calls it. They chatted with Caitlin and me about how they met, their creative routines, and their influences. Tune in...

Your music is influenced a lot by your travels.Alaina: The funny thing is that I'm a terrible traveler, so I don't know how that ended up being a thing that we do constantly.

Why is that?Alaina: I'm really bad at living out of a suitcase and packing. I'm not a pro. And I hate driving [laughs].

Where are you based?Patrick: We're in Denver at the moment. It's funny because we've tried to leave like three times, and it's a vortex that keeps sucking us back in. Alaina: It's a lovely city, and you don't need to drive. It's gorgeous and quiet and a step back from life on the road. Patrick: We have an apartment there with one room where pretty much every song has been written. Alaina: We have these concrete walls so we can just make noise. Our songs are inspired by the road but written at home.

You met in college right?Patrick: Yeah, we met at the University of Colorado. We were music majors beforehand and had transferred and basically quit our prospective music careers. Alaina: Whatever, we didn't have prospective music careers. I was nowhere near obtaining a career!Patrick: I was trying my damnedest, playing in bands, applying to internships at labels in New York, trying to climb a music ladder that didn't really exist. Alaina: We ended up both switching to philosophy majors at the same time. So it was separate but parallel paths. Totally fate. Patrick: Neither of us talked about our failed music or intentions until six months into our relationship. I didn't want to tell her that I played music and be like, "Wanna hear my demos, babe?"Alaina: I actually saw the guitar in his closet and thought, I'm not even gonna bring it up, because every guy I've ever dated has had a guitar in his closet. So I was like, "I don't need to hear any Dave Matthews covers, so I'm just gonna close the door and leave it at that." Patrick: That's how much we closed the door on music. We just stopped trying.

You never tried to be musicians?Alaina: No, not really. I just studied it. I became a philosophy major, but that was only after realizing that the only thing I did was sing. And I genuinely felt like because I was a girl, no one in my life had encouraged me to acquire a single other skill. I felt like an idiot, so I stopped and studied philosophy for three years. I'm glad that I did.

So what was the spark that led you to start again? Patrick: During our sailing trip, it wasn't through boredom...Alaina: It was more through separation. And being on the boat, we weren't able to listen to music very easily, so it was a treat. Going to see a movie was like listening to an album. So we listened to soul, retro rock, and '60s girl-group music a lot more closely then, and that's when we fell in love with sound and production. We fell in love with music all over again. Everyone loves a girl group, but it truly meant something to us for the first time. The timing was perfect: There was this synchronicity all over the country when bands like Best Coast, Cults, and Dum Dum Girls were starting to make a splash, and we saw a place where we could carve out own niche. It was like we were all writing these songs at the same time. Our generation had this moment where we were looking to influences from the past and it was like we all brought it back. Patrick: Yeah, and it all happened while were on a sailboat.

Are you friends with any of those groups?Alaina: We haven't crossed paths with each other much because when we all came out, we were lumped together in this group where skeptics thought this would all go away in a heartbeat. We've met Cults before, and Madeline is so sweet. I asked her for advice because I was so nervous. Dee Dee from Dum Dum Girls told me about taking care of my voice before shows.

How do you deal with skeptics?Patrick: You're your own worst critic, usually, and it's easy to look at the bad sides of a situation. But you have to acknowledge your progress and achievements. Alaina: We made a conscious choice not to read much press we get for our next few records, just so we can preserve a little bit of the freshness and the naivete we had when making our debut. His mom fights our battles for us, though. Once we got a really bad review and my little brother in the comments signed his full name and was defending us. It was so cute! He was so obviously my little brother.

And you've had two albums now: Cape Dory and Young and Old. Where are we now with Small Sound? Alaina: It was originally going to be a third album, but we have continued writing and changing so much that we wanted to have a progress report to our listeners to explain where we are and where we're going with our sound. Patrick: Over the course of writing these songs, our influences have changed so much. There might be a common thread throughout our music, but there's a new sheen and color to this EP. We thought was an appropriate way to segue to the album, which goes even further.

Do you have exercises or routines before you write together?Alaina: This year has been all about relearning how we did naturally together the first time with Cape Dory. We look back at how fresh we were and it was like, "How did we do that?" There's an amazing book called Daily Rituals, and it's about the most amazing artists and writers of the last 100 years. It's not about what their art was like, but what were their daily practices so they could achieve such great art. It was so inspiring, and I realized that the secret was habit. Even if it's unproductive. We formed a really strict routine. We wake up and have coffee and breakfast, play piano for one hour, read poetry for an hour, and sing for an hour. Even if nothing comes out of it. And it's never three or four days that go by before something substantial comes out of it. Everyone's different, though. Some bands write whole albums while on tour. I can't be in two places at once!

What are you favorite songs on the EP?Patrick: Mine is clearly "Timothy." It's fun to play, and Alaina, I think you did a great job on the lyrics. Alaina and I write songs differently every time, but that song is a perfect combination of our influences and writing styles.

How would you describe your own separate sensibilities?Patrick: I'm very interested in rhythm. I play drums, guitar, and bass, and I love looking at how rhythm plays a role in pop music. Alaina: You're also more of a pioneer, and you're really great at turning an idea I had into a completely new thing. He's the one who is concerned with innovation, but you want to bring something new. I'm the one who cares about pop music, and I'll write familiar and intuitive melodies.

Who are some artists you're into these days?Alaina: I had to work really hard to find female songwriters who resonated with me because I listen to so much dude music, like rock 'n' roll. I was frustrated because I don't have a masculine voice at all, so I had to find women who worked for me. So I fell in love with Carole King and Laura Nyro, who is much lesser known than she should be. "Mean Streets" is my love song to Laura. She was a rare gem who didn't fit in—psych rock of people like Jefferson Airplane exploded at around the time she was making music. I found out she was a huge influence on Elton John! Judee Sill, Vashtie Bunyan, and dearly departed Trish Keenan from Broadcast. These women who were total pioneers.

I love Broadcast. Tender Buttons is one of my favorite albums. Patrick: I remember the first time I came to New York and I put it on my headphones, and it is still so associated with this city for me. Alaina: And it's one of the first things you ever showed me.